The title “Lost in Translation” not only plays on the fact that both Bob and Charlotte are stuck in a place where they cannot understand what people are saying, but it also shows that they are lost in their own lives. Not only are the characters stuck in an identity crisis, but in the film, the country of Japan seems to be as well. With budding interest to become seemingly more American, Japan’s capital through a “consumerist cornucopia” and seems to be a victim of “imperialism’s renaissance” (Martin).
The fact that both characters are married is interesting. Both in varying points in their marriage (Bob about 20 years and Charlotte only a few), they are both suffering from an identity crisis. Bob, an actor reduced to sponsoring a Japanese scotch, is lost in his marriage. He left behind his wife and kids, missing out on important events such as his son’s birthday and the redecorating of his office. However, he also feels left behind by his wife that always used to be with him on set and fly to different places with him but now he leaves the comfort of his own world to an terrifying new place. The translation for his marriage used to be that he and his wife did everything together, but now they don’t even share “I love you”s.
Charlotte follows her photographer husband to Japan because she had nothing better to do. She is willing to make the marriage work, even if that means staying inside her hotel room not even finding the will to wear pants. She is lost in life, unable to find work even though she went to Harvard and is obviously very intelligent. She spends most of her time listening to self-help tapes about finding the true parts of herself. In the scene with her husband and the actress played by Anna Ferris, she finds herself silent, having nothing to contribute to exciting talk of health cleanses and rap beats. This scene is pivotal because she leaves the table to see Bob at the bar. Bob is someone that challenges her and reminds her of the good times that she and her husband had together. This feeling is mutual for Bob’s character.
It is not only the characters showing symptoms of an identity crisis. The city of Tokyo suffers from this condition as well. Everything is commercialized in the city. There is a scene where Bob is walking around town and it looks more like New York City than it does Tokyo. The traditional Japanese architecture is replaced with neon signs and the glitz and glamour of advertising. However, not Japan is like this. In the scene where Charlotte goes to the temple and sees what seems to be a traditional wedding scene in the outskirts of Tokyo. This scene important and adds to the theme of marriages. This couple that is getting married symbolizes the beginning of a relationship, the birth of something new. This is found only in a traditional Japanese setting.
The characters, Charlotte and Bob, also represents parts of the split personality Japanese culture. Bob represents the old Japan, once respected for its class and character has now been replaced by a shell of its former self, forcing itself into sell product that it just doesn’t believe in. Charlotte represents perhaps a future Japan, one that is searching for itself and it turn finds its calling in the past. Charlotte had to leave the overly stimulated city of Tokyo in order to find a balance with the new and the old. As explained by Fredric Jameson “explanation lies in two distinct worlds” one which is marked by “the disintegration of the social” aspects of the world such as “misery, poverty, unemployment, starvation, squalor, violence and death” and in “the other, unparalleled wealth, computerized production, scientific and medical discoveries” along with a “variety of commercial and cultural pleasures” (35). Tokyo has globalized for the worse it would see living in a world that has lost its ability to understand the pain and suffering of others and in turns fills that void with unparalleled stuff.
Works Cited
Jameson, Fredric. "The Politics of Utopia." New Left Review 25.Jan- Feb (2004): 35-54.
Print.
Lost in Translation. Dir. Sofia Cappola. Perf. Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansen. 2003. Focus
Features. Film
Martin, Randy. "Where Did the Future Go?" Logos Journal, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
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